Certain firms operate businesses that so close to the public's interests that we have the right to demand more. Consider the finance industry, whose "innovations" triggered this recession, or the energy industry, whose prices and oil spills affect everyone. When something goes wrong in this kind of public industry, it’s different than the local restaurant going under, as bad as that can be, for we all suffer far more than the industry does.

What makes the Internet great are many sites that are non-commercial. Will they be able to compete?

The Internet and communications industries are in the same category as the energy, transport and finance industries: for they are the lifeblood of commerce and speech in this nation. Just consider the power and public role of firms like Verizon or Google (especially if they work together). Sitting atop the web, they can influence what firms succeed or fail -- by making sites load faster or slower, or end up on page 10 of search results. It goes further -- in subtle ways, the information carriers have the power to influence elections and even censor speech they don't like.

I'm not saying these firms are planning to use their power for evil, but that they have the power; we must demand it is exercised carefully. Whether it’s Web 3.0 or 8.0 doesn't matter. Technology can be cool, but regardless, controlling information is an enormous source of power that can be abused, whether we're talking radio in the 1930s, or the Internet in the 2010s. The public should demand basic non-discrimination -- otherwise known as Net Neutrality -- from the information powers.

The greatest danger of the fast lane is that it completely changes competition on the net. The advantage goes not to the firm that's actually the best, but the one that makes the best deal with AT&T, Verizon, or Comcast. Had there been a 2-tier Internet in 1995, likely, Barnes and Noble would have destroyed Amazon, Microsoft Search would have beaten out Google, Skype would have never gotten started -- the list goes on and on. We'd all be the losers.

No one can ever guarantee that business is fair, but I do think we, as the public who paid for the Internet in the first place, can demand that it remain as open and fair to competition and innovation as we can make it. It has worked pretty well so far.

Many of the best Internet sites are non-commercial or don't really make commercial sense, whether Wikipedia, Failblog or Urban Dictionary, a few of my favorites. Those sites will get slower and harder to use, while commercial sites like starbucks.com or walmart.com will load faster. Nothing against those commercial sites, but it’s the sometimes-strange non-commercial or quasi-commercial stuff that makes the Internet great. Especially Failblog.